Brennan: The time is now to pair Cody Ceci and Thomas Chabot on the Senators blue line

While both were able to get what they needed and wanted, the clear-cut winner in Tuesday’s trade between the Ottawa Senators and Los Angeles Kings — like with most deals — is the team that ended up with the best player.

In this case, that player wasn’t even one of the four directly involved.

That player should become Thomas Chabot’s new blue line partner, effective immediately.

That player is Cody Ceci.

Since arriving in the National Hockey League four seasons ago, Ceci has basically lined up alongside three defencemen on a regular basis: Jared Cowen and Patrick Wiercioch, first- and second-round busts who are now 27 years old no longer in the NHL; and a slowing, but still knowing Dion Phaneuf, who was the mentor when Ceci was asked to learn a shutdown role.

“I think Cody will be the first one to tell you that Dion was great for his career,” general manager Pierre Dorion said Wednesday, about 14 hours after he dealt Phaneuf and Nate Thompson to the Kings for Marian Gaborik and Nick Shore. “But now Cody is probably ready to take someone under his wing.

“I’m a big Cody Ceci fan. I think when you play against the other teams top lines, on a night in, night out basis, you play those hard minutes. They’re not hard minutes as far as physical, they’re hard because the others guys have got the puck a lot, because you’re playing against the most skilled guys.”

And they’re hard jobs because, when things fall apart with the rest of the team as they did in Ottawa this season, the shutdown guys are often left holding the bag.

Phaneuf and Ceci were bashed mercilessly by the “experts” in the crowd, but teams usually don’t get to the conference finals with a lousy second pairing. This season, well, either the league has figured out coach Guy Boucher’s system or his players have chosen to abandon it. It’s probably a little bit of both, mixed in with some poor goaltending.

But Phaneuf was dumped because of his contract and Ceci, who has a $2.8-million salary and is targeted for restricted free agent status this summer, is not going anywhere.

“I know a lot of the pundits out there might disagree with it,” Dorion said, “but Cody is one player I’d like to have a Senator for a long, long time.”

A lot will happen between now and next October, when the results of games starting mattering again for the Senators. Erik Karlsson could be gone by then. The Senators might get a good, veteran right-shot defenceman in trading him or others.

And, in more of a pipe dream, they might wind up with No. 1 prospect Rasmus Dahlin, who could tell them he’s more comfortable being a lefty playing the right side and shock everybody by immediately stepping into a prominent role as an 18-year-old.

More likely, the Senators could have Chabot and Ceci as their top pairing, and that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

By this time next season, in fact, they could be well on their way to becoming a flipped side version of Karlsson and Marc Methot, at 22 and 25 years old.

The similarities are there. The offensively gifted Chabot is on track to becoming as good as Karlsson. Ceci is only like Methot in that both are from Ottawa, both are good skaters, both have size and — now that Ceci has been groomed to think defence first — both are perfectly suited to be teammed with a Karlsson/Chabot like player.

What they will need is to develop some chemistry, which is why Boucher should pair Ceci and Chabot in Thursday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres and keep them together for the rest of the season.

Trading for Phaneuf after two years turned out to be a very good move by the Senators. He made an impact on the ice during a season that brought a surprising playoff run and helped Karlsson out in the leadership role. If he was the same guy to his teammates as he portrayed to the media, Phaneuf was a class act and well-liked behind the scenes.

But this season his play slipped. He didn’t move as well. Phaneuf should still help the Kings, but here both he and his huge contract were in the way for a team that needed to get younger and cheaper.

With Phaneuf gone and Johnny Oduya on the way, there’s open space for Ben Harpur and Freddy Claesson. The team won’t be worse off with them, especially if Harpur starts regularly using his size and playing with an edge. Next season, they could be full-timers with Chabot and Mark Borowiecki — and Andreas Englund knocking harder on the door — and the left side of the blue line could be fine.

Assuming Karlsson is gone, and even if he’s not, the Senators will add to the right side. Re-signing Chris Wideman would be a start, especially with Christian Jaros needing more seasoning.

But here will be Ceci, who should be the winner, and make the Senators the winners, of Tuesday’s trade … if he’s given the chance to take Chabot under his wing.

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